The Lost Hero
by spqr-girl
Summary: AU. Percy is the son of Neptune, so he knows he's messed up somewhere along the way when he finds himself at a camp for Greek demigods.
1. Chapter 1

I  
PERCY

 **EVEN BEFORE HE GOT ELECTROCUTED,** Percy was having a rotten day.  
He woke in the backseat of a school bus, not sure of where he was, holding hands with a girl he didn't know. That wasn't necessarily the rotten part. The girl was cute, but he couldn't figure out who she was, or what he was doing there. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the fog that surrounded his mind.

A few dozen kids sprawled in the seats in front of him, listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping. Percy was pretty sure he didn't live in the desert. He tried to think back to the last thing he remembered. A memory flashed through his eyes; a girl with piercing black eyes, and glossy black hair, worn in a single braid.

"Percy, you okay?" asked the girl next to him, squeezing his hand. As quick as the memory came, it faded away. He sat up, feeling sick and dizzy, and surveyed the girl closely. She wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore no makeup, like she was trying not to draw attention to herself, but it didn't work. She was honestly pretty. Her eyes seemed to change color, like a kaleidoscope—brown, blue, and green.

Percy let go of her hand, glaring harshly. "Who are—"

In front of the bus, a man shouted: "Alright, cupcakes. Listen up!"

The guy was obviously a coach. His baseball cap was pulled low over his hair, so you could see nothing but his beady eyes. He had a wispy goatee, and a sour face, like he'd eaten something moldy. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange polo shirt. His nylon workout pants and Nikes were spotless white. A whistle hung from his neck, and a megaphone was clipped to his belt. He would've looked pretty scary, if he hadn't been five feet zero. When he stood up in the aisle, a student shouted, "Stand up, Hedge!"

"I heard that!" The coach scanned the bus for the offender. Then his eyes fixated on Percy, and his scowl deepened.

A shiver went down Percy's spine. He was convinced that the Coach knew he didn't belong there. He was going to call Percy out, and demand to know what he was doing here—and Percy wouldn't have a sliver of an idea as to what to reply with.

But Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat. "We'll arrive in five minutes. Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes cause any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way."

Percy blinked as the coach grabbed a baseball bat and slapped the palm of his hand with it. "He can't talk to me that way."

The girl next to him shrugged. "He always does. It's the Wilderness School, remember? Where the kids are the animals," she said, her eyes twinkling with amusement. She said it as if it was a joke they shared before.

Percy studied the girl closely, putting every detail into consideration. He scanned his brain for a name that matched the face of the girl, but he had no clue. "This is a mistake."

The boy in front of him threw his head back and laughed. "Yeah, right, Percy. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times, and Piper here didn't steal a BMW."

Piper blushed. "I didn't steal that car, Leo!"

Leo grinned. "Right, I forgot. What was your story? You 'talked' the dealer into lending it to you?" He shook his head and turned to Percy like, _Can you believe her?_

Leo looked like a Latino Santa's elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy should not be trusted around matches or sharp objects.  
His long, nimble fingers wouldn't stop moving—drumming on the seat, sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jacket. Either the kid was naturally hyper, or he was hopped on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.

"Anyway," Leo said, "I hope you've got your worksheet, 'cause I used mine for spit wads days ago. Why are you looking at me like that? Did somebody draw on my face again?"

Percy looked at Leo skeptically and spoke, "I don't know you."

Leo gave him a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone."

"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "Problem back there?"

Leo winked at Percy. "Watch this." He turned to the front. "Sorry, Coach. I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"

The coach grunted like he was pleased to have an excuse to yell. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader's. The kids cracked up. The coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: "The cow says moo!"

The kids howled, and the coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"

Piper stifled a laugh. "My god, Leo. How did you do that?"

Leo slipped a tiny Philips head screwdriver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy."

"Guys, I'm serious," Percy said, desperation leaking into his voice. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?"

Piper knit her eyebrows. "Percy, are you joking?"

"No! I have no idea—"

"Aw, yeah he's joking," Leo said. "He's trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren't you?"

Percy stared at him blankly.

"No, I think he's serious," Piper tried to take his hand again, but he pulled it away.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I don't—I can't—"

"That's it!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "The back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!"

The rest of the kids cheered.

"That's a shocker," Leo mumbled.

But Piper kept her eyes fixed on Percy, as if she couldn't decide whether to be hurt of worried. "Did you hit your head or something? You really don't know who we are?"

"It's worse than that," Percy said, letting out a frustrated growl, "I don't know who _I_ am."

 _LineBreak_

The bus dropped them in front of a big red stucco complex like museum, just sitting in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that's what it was: the National Museum of Nowhere, Percy thought. A cold wind blew across the desert, Percy hadn't paid much attention to what he was wearing, but it wasn't nearly warm enough: jeans, sneakers, a purple T-shirts, and a thin black windbreaker.

"So, a crash course for the amnesiac," Leo said in a helpful tone that made Percy think he was going to be helpful. "We go to the 'Wilderness School'"—Leo made air quotes with his fingers. "Which means we're 'bad kids,' Your family, or the court, or whoever, decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this lovely prison—sorry, 'boarding school'—in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills, like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats! And for a special treat, we go on 'educational' field trips with Coach Hedge, who keeps order with a baseball bat. Is it all coming back to you now?"

"No," Percy said, glancing apprehensively at the other kids: maybe twenty guys, half that many girls. None of them looked like hardened criminals, but he wondered what they had all done to get sentenced to a school for delinquents, and he wondered why he belonged with them.

Leo rolled his eyes. "You're really going to play this out, huh? Okay, so the three of us started here together this semester. We're totally tight. You do everything I say, and give me your dessert, and do my chores—"

"Leo!" Piper snapped.

"Fine. Ignore that last part, but we are friends. Well, Piper's a little more than your friend, these last few weeks—"

"Leo, stop it!" Piper's face burned red. Percy chuckled huskily, but he could feel his own cheeks heating up a bit as well. He thought he'd remember if he'd been going out with a girl like Piper.

"He's got amnesia or something," Piper said. "We've got to tell somebody."

Leo scoffed. "Who, Coach Hedge? He'd try to fix him by whacking him upside the head."

The coach was at the front of the group, barking orders and blowing his whistle to keep the kids in line; but every so often, he'd glance back at Percy and scowl.

"Leo, Percy needs help," Piper insisted. "He's got a concussion or—"

"Yo, Piper." One of the other guys dropped back to join them as the group was heading into hte museum. The new guy wedged himself between Percy and Piper, knocking Leo down. "Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?"

The new guy had dark hair cut Superman style, a deep tan, and teeth so white they should've come with a warning label: do not stare directly at teeth, permanent blindness may occur. He wore a Dallas Cowboys jersey, Western jeans and boots, and he smiled like he was God's gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere. Percy hated him instantly.

"Go away, Dylan. I didn't ask to work with you," Piper grumbled.

"Ah, that's no way to be. This is your lucky day!" Dylan hooked his arm through hers and dragged her through the museum entrance. Piper shot one last look over her shoulder like, 911.

Leo got up and brushed himself off. "I hate that guy." He offered Percy his arm, like they should go skipping inside together. "'I'm Dylan. I'm so cool, I want to date myself, but I can't figure out how! You want to date me instead? You're so lucky!'"

"Leo," Percy said, "you're weird."

"Yeah, you tell me that a lot," Leo grinned. "But if you don't remember me, that means I can reuse all my old jokes. Come on!"

Percy figured that if this was his best friend, his life must have been pretty messed up; but he followed Leo into the museum.

 _LineBreak_

* * *

They walked through the building, stopping here and there for Coach Hedge to lecture them with his megaphone, which alternately made him sound like a Sith Lord or blared out random comments like, "The big says oink."

Leo kept pulling out nuts, bolts, and pipe cleaners from the pockets of his army jacket and putting them together, like he had to keep his hands busy at all times.

Percy was too distracted to pay much attention to the exhibits, but they were about the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai tribe, which owned the museum.

Some girls kept looking over at Piper and Dylan and snickering. Percy figured these girls were the popular clique. They wore matching jeans and pink tops and enough makeup for a Halloween party.

One of them said, "Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place. Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?"

The other girls laughed. Even Piper's so-called partner Dylan suppressed a smile. Piper's snowboarding jacket sleeves hid her hands, but Percy got the feeling that she was clenching her fists.

"My dad's Cherokee," she said. "Not Hualapai. 'Course, you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel."

Isabel widened her eyes in mock surprise, so that she looked like an owl with a makeup addiction. "Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom."

Piper charged her, but before a fight could start, Coach Hedge barked, "Enough back there! Set a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!"

The group shuffled on to the next exhibit, but the girls kept calling out little comments to Piper.

"Good to be back on the rez?" one asked in a sweet voice.

"Dad's probably too drunk to work," another said with fake sympathy. "That's why she turned klepto."

Piper ignored them, but Percy was about ready to punch them himself. He might not remember Piper, or even who he was, but he knew he hated mean kids.

Leo caught his arm. "Be cool. Piper doesn't like us fighting her battles. Besides, if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they'd be all bowing down to her and screaming, 'We're not worthy!'"

"Why? What about her dad?"

Leo laughed in disbelief. "You're not kidding? You really don't remember that your girlfriend's dad—"

"Look, I wish I did, but I don't even remember her, much less her father."

Leo whistled. "Whatever. We have to talk when we get back to the dorm."

They reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where some big glass doors led out to the terrace.

"Alright, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cost me extra paperwork."

The coach opened the doors, and they all stepped inside. The Grand Canyon spread before them, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.

"Man," Leo said. "That's pretty wicked."

Percy begged to disagree. Just being that far up in the air was enough to nauseate him. He couldn't remember much, but he could make out that he was deathly afraid of heights, though a voice in his head told him it was more than that. _Air and water, complete opposites; never to interact._ Thunder rumbled overhead as Percy stepped onto the platform, his body shaking.

The canyon was bigger and wider than you could appreciate from a picture. They we're up so high that birds circled below their feet. Five hundred feet down, a river snaked along the canyon floor. Seeing the water there put Percy at ease, for a reason he couldn't seem to understand. He lifted his hand up to scratch his face when he felt a sharp tug in his gut, and saw the river sway angrily below him. _Whoa._

Banks of storm clouds had moved above them while they'd been inside, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs. As far as Percy could see in any direction, red and gray ravines cut through the desert like some crazy god had taken a knife to it.

Percy felt a piercing pain behind his eyes. Crazy gods... Where had he come up with that idea? He felt like he'd gotten close to something—something he should know about. He also got the unmistakable feeling that he was in danger.

"You alright?" Leo asked. "You're not going to throw up over the side, are you? 'Cause I should've brought my camera."

Percy grabbed the railing. He was shivering and sweaty, and somehow he knew it was because of more than heights. He blinked and the pain in his eyes subsided.

"I'm fine," he managed. "Just a headache."

Thunder rumbled again. A cold wind almost knocked him sideways down the cliff.

"This can't be safe," Leo squinted at the clouds. "Storm's right over us, but it's clear all the way around. Strange, huh?"

Percy looked up and saw Leo was right. A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the sidewalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was perfectly clear. Percy had a bad feeling about that.

"Alright, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm, like it bothered him, too. "We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences."

The storm rumbled, and Percy's head began to hurt again. Not knowing why he did it, he reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a pen—a blue, ballpoint pen that had strange writings engraved on both sides of it: Anaklysmos. The word found its meaning inside Percy's head, somehow translating itself into English. _Riptide._

Leo turned back to Percy with a quizzical expression as he saw the pen. "Where'd you get that?"

Percy put the coin away, wondering how he'd come to have it himself, and why he had the feeling he would need it soon.

Leo shrugged. "Come on," he said, "dare you to spit over the edge."

 _LineBreak_

* * *

They didn't try very hard on the worksheet. For one thing, Percy was too distracted by the storm and his own mixed-up feelings. For another thing, he didn't have any idea how to "name three sedimentary strata you observe" or "describe to examples of erosion."

Leo was no help. He was too busy building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners.

"Check it out." He launched the copter. Percy figured it would plummet, but the pipe-cleaner actually spun. The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiralled into the void.

"How do you do that?" Percy asked.

Leo shrugged again. "Would've been cooler if I had some rubber bands."

"Seriously," Percy said, "are we friends."

"Last I checked."

"You sure? What was the day we met? What did we talk about?"

"It was..." Leo frowned. "I don't recall exactly. I'm ADHD, man. You can't expect me to remember details."

"But I don't remember you _at all._ I don't remember anyone here. What if—"

"You're right and everyone else is wrong?" Leo asked. "You think you just appeared here this morning, and  
we've all got fake memories of you?"

A little voice in his head said, _That's exactly what I think._

But it sounded crazy. Everybody here took him for granted. Everyone acted like he was a normal part of the class—except Coach Hedge.

"Take the worksheet." Percy handed Leo the worksheet. "I'll be right back."

Before Leo could protest, Percy slowly, but surely headed across the skywalk.

Their school group had the place to themselves. Maybe it was too early in the day for tourists, or maybe the weird weather had scared them off. The Wilderness School kids had spread out in pairs across the skywalk. Most were joking around or talking. Some of the guys we're dropping pennies over the side. About fifty feet away, Piper was trying to fill out her worksheet, but her stupid partner Dylan was hitting on her, putting his hand on her shoulder and giving her that blinding smile. She kept pushing him away, and when she saw Percy she gave him a look like, _Throttle this guy for me._

Percy motioned for her to hang on. He walked up to Coach Hedge, who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.

"Did you do this?"

Percy blinked, trying to comprehend fully whether or not the coach had really asked him if he started a storm. "I'm sorry, what?"

Coach Hedge glared at him, his beady eyes glinting under the brim of his cap. "Did you start the storm? And don't play games with me, kid. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"

"You mean... you don't know me?" Percy said. "I'm not one of your students?"

Hedge snorted. "Never seen you before today in my life."

Percy was so relieved, he almost wanted to cry. At least he wasn't going insane. He was in the wrong place. "Look, sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is that I'm not supposed to be here."

"Got that right." Hedge's gruff voice dropped to a murmur, like he was sharing a secret. "You got a powerful way with the Mist, kid, if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monster for days now. I knew we had an infiltrator, but you don't smell like a monster. You smell like a half-blood. So—who are you, and where did you come from?"

Most of what the coach said didn't make sense, but Percy decided to answer truthfully. "I don't know who I am. I don't have any memories. You've got to help me."

Coach Hedge studied his face like he was trying to read Percy's thoughts.

"Great," he muttered. "You're being truthful."

"Of course I am! And what was all that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those code words or something?"

Hedge narrowed his eyes, and part of Percy wondered if the guy was crazy. But the other part knew better.

"Look, kid," Hedge said, "I don't know who you are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect three of you, rather than two. Are you the special package? Is that it?"  
"What are you talking about?"

Hedge looked at the storm. The clouds we're getting thicker, and darker, hovering over the skywalk.

"This morning," Hedge said, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful, older than most. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?

The pain behind Percy's eyes returned. Half-bloods. Monsters. Camp. He still didn't know what Hedge was talking about, but the words gave him a massive brain freeze—like his mind was trying to access information that should've been there, but wasn't.

He stumbled, and Coach Hedge caught him. For a short guy, the coach had hands like steel. "Whoa there, cupcake. You say you got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to protect you, too, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out."

"What director?" Percy said. "What camp?"

"Just sit tight. Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully, nothing happens before—"

Lightning cracked overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.

"I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. He picked up his megaphone and bellowed into it: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk"

"I thought you said this thing was stable!" Percy shouted, his hands shaking as he stumbled into the railing.

"Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed, "which these aren't. Come on!"


	2. Chapter 2

II  
PERCY

 **THE STORM CHURNED INTO A MINIATURE HURRICANE.**

Kids screamed and ran for the building. The wind snatched away their notebooks, jackets, hats, and backpacks. Percy skidded across the slick floor, but stayed on his feet, gritting his teeth.

Leo lost his balance, and almost toppled over the railing, but Percy grabbed his jacket and pulled him back.

"Thanks, man!" Leo yelled.

"Go, go, go!" said Coach Hedge.

Piper and Dylan were holding the doors open, herding the other kids inside. Piper's snowboarding jacket was flapping wildly, her dark hair all in her face. Percy thought that she must have been freezing, but she looked calm and confident as she told the others it would be okay and encouraged them to keep going.

Percy, Leo, and Hedge ran towards them, but it was like running through quicksand. The wind seemed to fight them, pushing them back. Dylan and Piper pushed one more kid inside, then lost their grip on the doors. They slammed shut, closing off the skywalk.

Piper tugged at the handles. Inside, the kids pounded on the glass, but the doors seemed to be stuck.

"Dylan, help!" Piper shouted.

Dylan just stood there with an idiotic grin, his Cowboys jersey rippling in the wing, like he was suddenly enjoying the storm.

"Sorry, Piper," he said. "I'm done helping."

He flicked his wrist, and Piper flew backward, slamming into the doors and sliding to the skywalk deck.

"Piper!" Percy tried to charge forward, but the wind was against him, and Coach Hedge held him back.

"Coach," Percy said, "let me go! She's in trouble, I can help!"

"Percy, Leo, stay behind me," the coach ordered. "This is my fight. I should've known that was our monster."

"What?" Leo demanded. A rogue worksheet slapped him in the face, but he swatted it away. "What  
monster?"

The coach's cap blew off, and sticking up above his curly hair we're to bumps—like the knots cartoon characters get when they're bonked on the head. Coach Hedge lifted his baseball bat—but it wasn't a regular bat anymore. Somehow it had changed into a crudely shaped tree-branch club, with twigs and leaves still attached.

Dylan gave him that psycho happy smile. "Oh, come on, _Coach._ Let the boy attack me! After all, you're getting too old for this. Isn't that why they retired you to this stupid school? I've been on your team the entire season, and you didn't even know. You're losing your nose grandpa."

The coach made an angry sound like an animal bleating. "That's it, cupcake. You're going down."

"You think you can protect these three half-bloods all at once, old man?" Dylan laughed. "Good luck."  
Dylan pointed at Leo, and a funnel cloud materialized around him. Leo flew off the skywalk like he'd been tossed. Somehow he managed to twist in midair, and slammed sideways into the canyon wall. He skidded, clawing furiously for any handhold. Finally, he grabbed a thin ledge about fifty feet below the skywalk and hung there by his fingertips.

"Help!" he yelled up at them. "Rope, please? Bungee cord? Something?"

Coach Hedge cursed and tossed Percy his club. "I don't know who you are, kid, but I hope you're good. Keep that thing busy"—he stabbed a thumb at Dylan—"while I get Leo."

"Get him how?" Percy demanded. "You going to fly?"

"Not fly. Climb." Hedge kicked off his shoes, and Percy almost had a heart attack. The coach didn't have any feet. He had hooves. Goat hooves. Which mean those things on his head, Percy realized, weren't bumps. They were horns.

"You're a faun," Percy said. The words tumbled out before he could think, and even he hadn't a clue about the meaning of them.

 _"Satyr!"_ Hedge snapped. "Fauns are Roman. But we'll talk about that later."

Hedge leaped over the railing. He sailed towards the canyon wall and hit hooves first. He bounded down the cliff with impossible agility, finding footholds no bigger than postage stamps, dodging whirlwinds that tried to attack him as he picked his way towards Leo.

"Isn't that cute!" Dylan turned towards Percy. "Now it's your turn, boy."

Percy threw the club. It seemed useless with winds so strong, but the club turned against the current and flew right at Dylan. The club must have hit him hard, because in a split second, Dylan was on his knees.

Piper wasn't dazed as she appeared. Her fingers closed around the club when it rolled next to her, but before she could use it, Dylan rose. Blood—golden blood—trickled from his forehead.

"Nice try, boy." He glared harshly at Percy. "But you'll have to do better."

The skywalk shuddered. Hairline fractures appeared in the glass. Inside the museum, kids stopped banging on the doors. They backed away, watching in terror.

Dylan's body dissolved into smoke, as if his molecules were coming unglued. He had the same face, the same brilliant white smile, but his form was suddenly composed of swirling black vapor, his eyes like electrical sparks in a living storm cloud. He sprouted black smoky wings and rose above the skywalk. If angels could be evil, Percy decided, they would look exactly like this.

"You're a ventus," Percy said, though he had no idea how he knew that word. "A storm spirit."

Dylan's laugh sounded like a tornado tearing off a roof. "I'm glad I waited, demigod. Leo and Piper, I've known about for weeks. Could've killed them at any time. But my mistress said a third was coming—somebody special. She'll reward me greatly for your death!"

Two more funnel clouds touched down on either side of Dylan and turned into venti—ghostly young men with smoky wings and eyes that flickered with lightning.

Piper stayed down, pretending to be dazed, her hand still gripping the club. Her face was pale, but she gave Percy a determined look, and he understood the message: _Keep their attention. I'll brain them from behind._ Cute, smart, _and_ violent. Percy wished he remembered having her as a girlfriend. He clenched his fists and got ready to charge, but he never got the chance.

Dylan raised his hand, arcs of electricity running between his fingers, and blasted Percy in the chest.  
 _Bang!_ Percy found himself flat on his back. His mouth tasted like burning aluminum foil. He lifted his head and saw that his clothes were smoking. The lightning bolt had gone straight through his body and blasted off his left shoe. His toes were black with soot.

The storm spirits were laughing. The wind raged. Piper was screaming defiantly, but it all sounded tinny and far away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Percy saw Coach Hedge climbing the cliff with Leo on his back. Piper was on her feet, desperately swinging the club to fend off the two extra storm spirits, but they were just toying with her. The club went right through their bodies like they weren't even there. And Dylan, a dark and winged tornado with eyes, loomed over Percy.

"Stop," growled Percy. He rose unsteadily to his feet, and he wasn't sure who was more surprised: him, or the storm spirits.

"How are you alive?" Dylan's form flickered with uncertainty. "That was enough lightning to kill twenty men!"

Percy smirked. "My turn," he said huskily. He looked at the storm spirit, his sea-green eyes seemingly glowing in the darkness of the storm. Anybody could see the violent waves of the ocean crashing down onto the beach in them. Dylan backed up.

Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out the ballpoint pen. He let his instincts take over, clicking the pen as if he had done it a thousand times. He felt it grow heavier in his hands and when he looked over to his hand, he was suddenly holding a sword—a wickedly sharp, three foot long, double-edged sword. The leather grip fit his fingers perfectly, and the whole thing was made of a glowing gold material.

Dylan snarled. He looked at his two comrades and yelled, "Well? Kill him!"

The other storm spirits didn't look happy with that order, but they flew at Percy, their fingers crackling with electricity.

Percy swung at the first spirit. His blade passed through it, and the creature's smoky form disintegrated. The second spirit let loose a bolt of lightning, but Percy's sword absorbed the charge. Percy stepped in—one quick thrust and the second storm spirit dissolved into golden powder.

Dylan wailed in outrage. He looked down as if expecting his comrades to reform, but their gold dust remained dispersed in the wind. "Impossible! Who _are_ you, half-blood?"

Piper was so stunned she dropped the club. "Percy, how…?"

Then Coach Hedge leaped back onto the skywalk and dumped Leo like a sack of flour.

"Spirits, fear me!" Hedge bellowed, flexing his short arms. Then he looked around and realized there was only Dylan.

"Curse it, boy!" he snapped at Percy. "Didn't you leave some for me? I like a challenge!"

Leo got to his feet, breathing hard. He looked completely humiliated, his hands bleeding from clawing at the rocks.

"Yo, Coach Supergoat, whatever you are—I just fell down the freaking Grand Canyon! Stop asking for challenges!"

Dylan hissed at them, but Percy could see fear in his eyes. "You have no idea how many enemies you've awakened, half-bloods. My mistress will destroy all demigods. This war, you cannot win."  
Above them, the storm exploded into a full-force gale. Cracks expanded in the skywalk. Sheets of rain poured down, and Percy had to crouch to keep his balance. A hole opened in the clouds—a swirling vortex of black and silver.

"The mistress calls me back!" Dylan shouted with glee. "And you, demigod, will come with me."

He lunged for Percy, but Piper tackled the monster from behind. Even though he was made of smoke, Piper somehow managed to connect. Both of them went sprawling. Percy, Leo, and the coach surged forwards to help, but the spirit screamed with rage. He let loose a torrent that knocked them all backward. Percy and Hedge landed on their butts. Percy's sword skidded across the glass. Leo hit the back of his head and curled on his side, dazed and groaning. Piper got the worst of it. She was thrown off Dylan's back, and hit the railing, tumbling over the side until she was hanging by one hand over the abyss.

Percy started towards her, but Dylan yelled, "I'll settle for this one!"

He grabbed Leo's arm and began to rise, throwing a half-conscious Leo below him. The storm spun faster, pulling them upward like a vacuum cleaner. "Help!" Piper screamed. "Somebody!"

Then she slipped, yelling as she fell.

"Percy, go!" Hedge yelled. "Save her!"  
The coach launched himself at the spirit with some hardcore goat fu—lashing out with his hooves, knocking Leo free from the spirit's grasp. Leo dropped safely to the floor, but Dylan grabbed the coach's arms instead, Hedge tried to head-butt him, then kicked him and called him a cupcake. They rose into the air, gaining speed.

 _Save her?_ Percy thought. _She's gone!_

But, again, his instincts won. He ran to the railing, thinking, _I'm a lunatic,_ and jumped over the side.

* * *

Percy was afraid of heights, and knowing he was going to smash against the canyon floor five hundred feet below wasn't helping. He figured he hadn't accomplished anything except for dying along with Piper, but he tucked his arms and plummeted headfirst. The sides of the canyon raced past like a film on fast-forward. His face felt like it was peeling off. His mind screamed at him. He somehow knew the air was dangerous territory, but there was nothing he could do about it now. In a heartbeat, he caught up with Piper, who was flailing wildly. He tackled her waist, and closed his eyes, waiting for his death. Piper screamed.

A memory flashed in Percy's eyes. He recalled that strange pull in his gut he had felt earlier on. How the river had begun to rage beneath him as he grew frustrated.

He shut his eyes tighter. _Please work. Please, please, please.  
_ He imagined the waves of the river below him slowly rising up, coming to their aid. He pictured the water bending to his will, forming a light circle around the two to keep them from falling to their doom.

His gut twisted.

The wind suddenly died. Piper's scream turned into a strangled grasp. Percy thought they must be dead, but he hadn't felt any impact.

"P-P-Percy," Piper managed.

He opened his eyes. They weren't falling, nor were they dead. They were floating in midair with a giant bubble of water above them, a hundred feet above the river—or what used to be the river. The small line of water that had laid beneath the canyon just a moment earlier was now circling around the pair, keeping them from plummeting down to their deaths.

He hugged Piper tight, and she repositioned herself so that she was hugging him too. They were nose to nose. Her heart beat so hard, Percy could feel it through her clothes.

She said, "How did you—"  
"I didn't," he said, cutting her off, "I think I would know if I could bend water like that girl from the Avatar."

But then he thought back to that harsh pull in his gut, and to his condition: _I don't even know who I am.  
_ He thought about going up. The bubble around them popped, causing Piper to let out a yelp, but instead formed a wave beneath them and carried them up to the platform.

"The water is helping us," he said.

"Well tell it to help us faster! Get us out of here!"

Percy looked down. The easier thing to do would be to descend slowly onto the canyon floor. Then he looked up. The rain had stopped. The storm clouds didn't seem as bad, but they were still rumbling and flashing. There was no guarantee the spirits were gone for good. He had no idea what happened to Coach Hedge, and he'd left Leo up there, barely conscious.

"We have to help them," Piper said, as if reading his thoughts.

"Can you—"

"Let's see." Percy thought _Up,_ and instantly the water shot them upwards.

The fact that he was riding the water might've been cool under different circumstances, but he was too much in shock. As soon as they landed on the skywalk, they ran to Leo.

Piper turned Leo over, and he groaned. His army coat was soaked from the rain. His curly hair glittered gold from rolling around in monster dust. But he was alive, and that was good enough.

"Stupid…ugly…goat…" he muttered.

"Where did he go?" Piper asked.

Leo pointed straight up. "Never came down. Please tell me he didn't actually save my life."

"Twice," Percy said, chuckling.

Leo groaned even louder. "What happened? The tornado guy, the gold sword... I hit my head. That's it, right? I'm hallucinating?"

Percy had forgotten about the sword. He walked over to where it was lying and picked it up. The blade was well balanced. On a hunch, he pressed the edge of the sword. It shrank back into a pen.

"Yep," Leo mumbled. "Definitely hallucinating."

Piper shivered in her rain-soaked clothes. "Percy, those things—"

Percy's face darkened. " _Venti,_ " he growled. "Storm spirits."

"Okay. You acted like… like you'd seen them before. Who _are_ you?"

He shook his head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't remember."

The storm dissipated. The other kids from the Wilderness School were staring out the glass doors in horror. Security guards were working on the locks now, but they didn't seem to be having any luck.

"Coach Hedge said he had to protect three people," Percy remembered. "I think he meant us."

"And that thing Dylan turned into…" Piper shuddered. "God, I can't believe it was _hitting_ on me. He called us…what, demigods?"

Leo lay on his back, staring at the sky. He didn't seem anxious to get up. "Don't know what demi means," he said. "But I'm not feeling too godly. You guys feeling godly?"

There was a brittle sound like dry twigs snapping, and the cracks in the skywalk began to widen.

"We need to get off this thing," Percy said. "Maybe if we—"

"Ohhh-kay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me those aren't flying horses."

At first, Percy thought Leo _had_ hit his head too hard. Then he saw a dark shape descending from the east—too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer, he could see a pair of winged animals—gray, four-legged, exactly like horses—except each one had a twenty-foot wingspan. And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.

"Reinforcements," he said. "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us."

"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet. "That sounds painful."

"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked.

Percy watched as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking. Two teenagers stood in the chariot—a tall blonde girl, maybe a little older than Percy, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They both wore jeans and orange T-shirts, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaped off before the chariot even finished moving. She pulled a knife and ran towards Percy's group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.

"Where is he?" the girl demanded. Her gray eyes were fierce and a little startling.

"Where's who?" Percy asked.

She frowned like his answer was unacceptable. Then she turned to Leo and Piper.

"What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"  
The coach's first name was Gleeson? Percy might've laughed if the morning hadn't been quite so weird and scary. Gleeson Hedge: football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure, why not?  
Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some…tornado things."

" _Venti,_ " Percy explained. "Storm spirits."

The blonde girl arched an eyebrow. "You mean _anemoi thuellai?_ That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

Percy did his best to explain, though it was hard to meet those intense gray eyes. About halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot came over. He stood there glaring at him, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps, which seemed a little odd to Percy.

When Percy had finished the story, the blonde girl didn't look satisfied. "No, no, no! She _told_ me he would be here. She told me if I came here, id find the answer."

"Annabeth," the bald guy grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Percy's feet.

Percy hadn't thought much about it, but he was still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by lightning. His bare foot felt okay, but it looked like a lump of charcoal..

"The guy with one shoe," said the bald dude. "He's the answer."

"No, Butch," the girl insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked." She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong.

"What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with him?"

The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.

"Annabeth," said the bald dude, Butch, "we got to leave. Let's get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits may come back." She fumed for a moment.

"Fine." She fixed Percy with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."

She turned on her heel and marched towards the chariot.

Piper shook her head. "What's her problem? What's going on?"

"Seriously," Leo agreed.

"We have to get you out of here," Butch said. "I'll explain on the way."

"I'm not going anywhere with _her._ " Percy gestured towards the blonde. "She looks like she wants kill me."

Butch hesitated. "Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find the guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."

"What problem?" Piper asked.

"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing for three days," Butch said. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped he'd be here."

"Who?" asked Percy.

"Her boyfriend," Butch said. "A guy named Jason Grace."


End file.
